Aspire Nautilus & Nautilus mini in-depth review

Introduction

The Aspire Nautilus ad mini Nautilus are third generation tank atomizers made by Chinese firm  Aspire founded in 2013. They first appeared in the early 2014 (Nautilus) and  in the mid 2014 (mini) and are  classified as "adjustable airflow BVC clearomizers" since
1) tanks are made by clear pyrex glass (clear atomizer=clearomizer)
2) coil is placed vertically at the bottom of the tank (BVC=Bottom Vertical Coil)
3) the airflow can be adjusted by selecting the orifice size through which air flows in.

Nautilus brothers are top class atomizers  in the market segment of non rebuildable devices and they unique features made them a bestseller leading the new entry  firm Aspire  in a top position.

I dont know if the bottom vertical coil concept was invented by Aspire (albeit miniaturized, the bvc head is similar to a boge cartom) but nowadays BVC is strictly associated to Aspire products covering three different market segments with the small low end 5 € CE5 clearo,  the 22-25 € top class Nautilus brothers and finally with the 35  € Atlantis, a strong competitor to RBA systems targeted to drippers.

In my opinion it is the BVC concept that makes the Nautilus  an award winning atomizer and I will explain the why in a dedicated section of this review. Furthermore the adjustable airflow system allows  the Nautilus to adapt to the evolving habits of ex-smokers that gradually change from strong but short  inhalations  to longer and softer puffs. When I vaped with the Nautilus the first time, about 1 month after I give up smoking, it seemed to me that the only useful hole  of the adjustable air systems was the smaller one, being the others too  airy. Now, after some months, I  always vape with the largest hole.  

Vaping with the Nautilus

Since the Nautilus and the Nautilus mini differ only by the tank capacity, being the internal hardware and the airflow sizes identical, there is no difference in vaping and thus what I will say here applies to both the models. Furthermore, despite early models of the Nautilus were equipped with 1.6 and  2.1 ohm coils, nowadays, at least here in Italy, they are both  sell with the new 1.8 ohm coils that first appeared with the Nautilus mini. Despite I tried out a pair of 1.6 and 2.1 ohm coils my vaping experience is largely established on 1.8 ohm coils and thus my review deals with the latter.

The Nautilus produces a huge quantity of   cold to slightly warm clean ad smooth aerosol  depending on the power setting. In my opinion the very minimum power needed to get an acceptable  early morning gently vaping experience is 6-7 watt while the maximum power to prevent burnt flavour is about 15-16 watts with a freshly installed coil and a light not organic e-liquid. While the power limits are  quite large, the best vaping experience is obtained at 9-13 watts i.e. between 4 and 5 volts (recomended also by aspire, see here ). I usually vape at 9-10 watts and sometimes, especially after dinner, at 12-13 watts. The vapour is very cold at 6 watt, warm at 15 watt and slightly warm between 9 and 13 watts. A way to slightly increase vapour temperature is to replace the original inox drip tip with a plastic one.  Also at the highest power, provided not burnt, vapour smell and taste is very clear. I'm definitively convinced  that the Nautilus is very neutral with flavours, it does not magnify nor mitigate, probably  because  of the slightly warm vapour temperature. Burnt flavours are very rare and in my experience they happen only with misuse that is when one vapes while the tank is empty or when the coil is exausted. The lasting of the coils depends mostly on the type of the e-liquid and on the power setting. At 10 watts I'm able to vape 25-30 ml of a not organic and not eccessively sweet e-liquid ( for instance the Halo Belgian Cocoe)   without even a minimal burnt taste production. With a sweet and high flavoured liquid (for instance Dr. Stanley Clark's Snake oil) at 10 watts i can't vape more than 10 ml with a single coil.
A very in-depth examination of nautilus coils life can be found here.

I think that  the Nautilus is not ideal as a first atomizer   at the first days after one quits smoking simply because the vapour it produces is not sufficiently warm to resemble cigarettes experience. But after one or two weeks of smoking cessation and gradual adaptation by vaping with an entry level top coil atom, the Nautilus  is the best purchase one can made.

Daily use

The mini, the full size Nautilus
and a 30 w  battery

The full size Nautilus mounted
on a 30 watt battery in my hand

The Nautilus has a huge 5 ml tank while the mini has a 2 ml one. As a former 30 cigarettes/day smoker I daily vape 3-4 ml of e-juice that is almost the full content of the Nautilus or of two Nautilus mini. Despite the  Nautilus  capacity fits my  daily vaping needs, since I like to swap between two different  liquids (say one gentle liquid at the morning and a strong liquid in the afternon), I prefer to take back two Nautilus mini, being a full size Nautilus too big to fit into my pockets. Presently my Nautilus set is made by two mini i take always back and two full size atoms that I use only at home.

Taking the Nautilus in the pocket is safe because the sealing system

  

The Nautilus mini on the same
battery and the same hand

    prevents any leakage. The pyrex glass tank is very strong and resisted to     many falls on a wood floor and also on the  pvc coated concrete floor of     my office. Furthermore pyrex is so hard that my tanks have no scratchs       despite I fit them in my pocket along with keys, coins and inox drip tips.

    Refilling the tank is very easy and after some practice can be made           without getting dirty hands. One of my two mini was very hard to open      when it was new and i had to use pliers for the first 4-5  refilling, probably  because of a defective thread.

During the refilling operation few  e-liquid drops  can drip into the bottom hardware and accumulate around the positive electric pin. Thus I clean the bottom hardware every time i change the coil head by a 10 minutes immersion in edible 95% grade alcohol. Water can also be used but than one must wait until the hardware is completely dry (or use a hair dryier).

A small amount of vapour condensates on the inner surface of the chimney and of the upper cap and thus when  I daily clean the drip tip i clean also the upper hardware with a rolled paper towel (1 minute for both). 

Daily cleaning and refill operations are become for me a pleasant moment of the day that reminds me of my grandfather when he cleaned his pipe.

The Nautilus BVC

Parts of the Nautilus atomizer. The replaceable atomizer is the BVC head.

A detailed picture of the Nautilus BVC head

Sketch of a vertical section of the aspire BVC head

The Nautilus BVC  head is quite different from many other products. The coil is placed vertically, i.e. aligned with the Nautilus axis, and is internally empty to allow air to flow co-axially from the bottom to the top. The coil is externally coated by a fiber material  (very likely ceramic fibers) that carries the liquid (by capillarity) from the cotton layer. When the user aspires from the drip tip the negative pressure that establish in the coil inner retrieves  both fresh air from the outer and e-liquid from the tank. When the coil is powered its temperature rise without excediing the evaporation temperature of the liquid, at least where the coil wire surface is in contact with the wet fibers. Furthermore the air flux  that laps the dry parts of the coil wire should contribute to mantain low temperatures in the coil.



With respect to wick based horizontal coils  the temperature distribution on the Nautilus BVC coil wire should be  more uniform and less prone to the formation of hotspot points because the air flux is very regular and laps the most part of the dry coil surface.

Rating

May be the best not rebuildable tank atomizer on the market (at march 2015) and I rate it 9/10.

Why not 10/10? Because even if it may be the best clearo on the market, it is far away from perfection. We must wait a big technology improvement to get a 10/10 rated atommizer, read the following post.